


Apple Pie

by Elenhin



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-17
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 20:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1048463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenhin/pseuds/Elenhin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another one of my elaborations on the One Word at a Time series by the ever talented and generous Aramirandme81 who was kind enough to challange me with one of her works, </p>
<p>The word was Apple pie, the line was; Mike orders them to get their act together, Olaf says they should do something just the two of them, and Ty suggests something where they can see a result when done. So, Anders and Axl find them self in Anders kitchen baking apple pie, the symbolism of it lost on neither of them.</p>
<p>And this is my take on Anders and Axl attempting an Apple Pie...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apple Pie

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to Aramirandme81 for letting me do this, I hope you like this, ;) *hugs* Elenhin
> 
> On a second note, this story will have a sort of sequel to come next....

Apple Pie

 

It’s pretty clear to everyone that Axl and Anders still have not worked out their differences. Axl’s stunt on the parking garage not having helped. Before then, while they were still at the restaurant watching Mike win all the tequila things were okay if not great.   
  
After the ice incident they were actually even better and Anders was willing to accept frostbite on his dick if it would give him his brother back. He had refused to apologize, and he still did, for he really had done his best. If they couldn’t cut him the slack they gave Gaia, then he would not beg for it. He had struggled when every fiber of his being burned for her.

 

When she came to his flat, he failed. Then he lost all hold he had had on his desire and left was only the burning need. Gaia was granted a ‘get out of jail free’ card, but no one offered him one. Instead his brother nearly killed him, actually killed him.

 

Axl had told Mike that the worst part was that it was his brother who had done it to him. Well, speaking from experience Anders could tell it wasn’t very nice when your brother killed you either.

 

The worst part though was when Axl said it was becuase of him he was on the ledge. That it was becuase of his brother, and ever since Anders had found himself in a living nightmare. He had avoided them all and he could barely sleep or eat. He just kept hearing Axl’s voice and his words, and he kept seeing his baby brother whom he had loved so much and struggled so hard to protect when they were young. It was all he could do not to break down and cry at the thought that he had done that to him.   
  
So he hid, he hid himself away in his flat and at his work and he refused to come out. No matter what he refused to come out and eventually Mike got fed up with it. It had to be bad, for Ty agreed with him. That was when the rest of the family got together to decide on a course of action. Calling in both Anders and Axl to a final thing where Mike drops the proverbial bomb.

 

Mike orders them to get their act together, Olaf says they should do something just the two of them, and Ty suggests something where they can see a result when done. So, Anders and Axl find themselves in Anders kitchen baking apple pie, the symbolism of it lost on neither of them.

 

“How the fuck do we do this?” Axl pouts, looking at the small mountain of ingredients that are stacked on the countertop.

 

“I don’t know,” Anders shrugs. He’s tired, and he still tries to avoid looking at Axl.

 

Frowning and scowling at his brother Axl picks up one of the apples and takes a bite out of it, then makes a face and puts it down.

 

“Look, I can look it up on the internet,” Anders offers. “See how you bake one of these things, okay?”

 

“You bought all this shit and don’t know?” Axl scowls and Anders shrugs.

 

“Ty gave me a list of what we needed. I just shopped according to the list. He never said what any of it was for.”

 

“Well find out then,” Not wanting an apple at the moment Axl starts looking for something else to eat. All that is in the fridge though is leftovers so furry even he won’t touch them.

 

Anders fetches his laptop and sets it up on the dining table, quickly googling apple pie and giving a whistle at how many hits he gets. “This isn’t going to be as easy as I thought,” he decides. “We could look through a hundred of these and not find one with the stuff Ty made me buy.”

 

“Then I’m ordering pizza, I refuse to starve to death while we try to figure out how to bake a fucking pie,” Axl declares as he reaches for his phone.

 

“Eat pie while figuring out how to make pie,” Anders gives a small grin. “Fine by me.”

 

Axl orders two pizzas, and when they arrive Anders pays for them, putting the cartoons on the table. He’s still not really hungry, but with the aid of a beer he manages about three slices.   
  
Axl, who has quickly devoured his own starts on what’s left of Anders, then he frowns realizing how much that is. He also recalls the state of the food in the fridge. Anders always keeps something edible there, even if you have to send out a search party to find it sometimes. It’s always there though, something not furry, leftovers that are reasonably fresh. This time there was nothing and that means Anders hasn’t been eating anything at home for some time. There was not even bread to make a sandwich.

 

Anders always have at least sandwiches or cereals but now he can’t see either and pushes the carton with the last two slices of pizza back towards Anders.

 

“You don’t want it?” Anders frowns as he looks up from his computer.

 

“Not right now,” he shrugs. “And uh, if you didn’t buy any real food, you’re gonna need it later.”

 

“Probably,” Anders admits with a sigh. “Don’t really care though.”

 

“I uh, guess not,” Axl sank down on a chair. Not having anything to do while he waited. Normally he would have begged to feed the fish, but he wasn’t sure if Anders would let him near them. On the other hand, they were supposed to clear things out between them.

 

“Can I feed your fish?”

 

Anders head shot up so fast Axl winced thinking it must have hurt. Anders stared at him for a moment, then there was a tiny smile.

 

“Don’t give them too much,” then he paused. “You know, I got some other shit for them in the freezer. Take that, and give them about half a square. Then make sure you wash your hands after.”

 

“Sure,” Axl leapt to his feet, finding a flat red pack of ‘apetina’ fish food. Breaking off about half a square as close as he could manage he sniffed it and dropped it into the tank, watching as it dissolved rapidly and the fish dove for it. He heard the printer hum and Anders picked up a sheet of paper out of it.

 

“Okay, this is as close as I’ve got,” he decided. “We can try it.”

 

They tried it, Axl peeled and cut the apples, then helped as Anders mixed the ingredients for the crumble crust. He certainly appeared to know what he was doing.

 

“Can you cook too?” he asked surprised.

 

“Yeah, but I don’t like doing it,” Anders paused. “I used to cook for you and Ty, not that either of you really seemed to appreciate it half the time. But I did.”

 

“I think I remember, “ Axl scrunched up his face as he concentrated.  

 

“Doesn’t matter,” Anders mumbled. “I might know how, but I don’t like it.”

 

“I think you did better stuff than Ty at times,” Axl  recalled. “I mean when I think.”

 

“Lets just get this done,” Anders didn’t want to talk about that. Axl looked a little hurt but helped him.

 

It went mostly fine until they brought it out of the oven. Anders cursed as the hot ceramic seemed to burn all the way through the oven mit. Axl, wanting to help got in closer but accidentally bumped him. the dish with the pie slipped from his hand as he fell, trying to brace his fall he wound up grabbing the door to the oven and cried out.

 

“I’m sorry!” Axl cried, leaping to his feet and just about leaping over Anders to start the cold water running. Anders climbed to his feet with a curse and thrust his hand under the faucet.

 

“I don’t even know why we’re doing this fucking shit!” he declared as he gritted his teeth.

 

“Cause Mike told us to,” Axl pouted.

 

“Yeah, but a fucking apple pie that’s gonna be shit anyway,” Anders glared at the pie on the floor. “I won’t even be able to eat it.”

 

“Oh yeah,” suddenly Axl remembered what had happened when Ty had made apple and cinnamon cupcakes. Anders got sick. He was allergic to apples as a kid, then could eat them just fine, but now he was back to not being intolerant. Olaf thought it had something to do with Helen dying as Idunn. Ty had another theory, he claimed it was likely becuase of Helen dying, but he figured it was more a mental thing. Helen had been murdered in front of Anders, and Helen was Idunn whom Anders would refer to as  the apple chic, so according to Ty, Anders had mentally made himself allergic to apples again, either to try and avoid his grief, or, because the grief was still too fresh.

 

Axl wasn’t sure how it worked, but he knew that while Helen had not really been good for Anders, he had loved her so it made sense in a weird way.

 

“Oh yeah, you get sick,” he mumbled now.

 

“That and the fact you added twice the sugar,” Anders gave a small grin. “And now it’s on the floor too, it’s gonna taste like shit bro.”

 

“I thought more sugar would make it better,” he frowned.

 

“Not that way,” Anders shook his head and pulled his hand from under the tap, wincing as he saw the burn and the blisters. “Okay, new plan. Scoop that thing back into the pie tin, we’re gonna make them bastards eat it, and we won’t tell them it’s been on the floor. Serves them right. Then we get ourselves something good.”

 

“I like that,” Axl grinned. He grabbed a spatula and started scooping the pie up. They had made a crumble pie, so no one would really be able to tell. It was really perfect. He giggled to himself as he smoothed it out, and when finding a strand of hair hid it instead of pulling it out.

 

“You okay?” he asked Anders who was inspecting his hand. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to push you.”

 

“It’ll sting for a while, but it’s fine,” he shrugged. “Now, we tell them we did it just for them, and not one word about what happened. I’m gonna guilt those guys into eating every last crumb, got it?”

 

“Yeah,” Axl grinned. Then he became serious. “Anders, is this even going to work?”

 

“What do you mean?” he turned around.

 

“Are we ever going to be okay again?” Axl shifted nervously and Anders sighed tiredly.

 

“I know that a fucking apple pie won’t really fix anything, and I know it’s shit, but yeah, I guess we can. If you can forgive me, and I mean really forgive me.” Anders leaned against the counter, gathering his thoughts and Axl knew how serious he was when he did that.

 

“I slept with Gaia, and you pretty much killed me, and neither one of us wanted to do any of it,” Anders started slowly. “And Mike demanded I apologize to you, which was what I was doing when you tried to kill me.”

 

“If that was an apology, it was the worst one I ever seen,” Axl declared and Anders looked disappointed, and sad. “Sorry,” he mumbled. He knew it was serious when Anders took that long to say something, so he should know he needed to listen.

 

“I knew what I was saying Axl, and I figured you’d give me a beating. Hell, I even figured maybe I deserved it, and you would figure we were even. I thought it would be worth a beating if it made you forgive me, but then I found myself having to apologize for what you killing me did to you, and it don’t add up in my book. That crap was a freak, Odin took over and you had no control, just like Bragi took over and I couldn’t stop it. I tried Axl, I gave it all I had, but when Gaia was here in my door, there was no way I could. It was over then, all over, and if it had been bad before, it got worse, I couldn’t do shit about it. So I tried to let you get even, and it didn’t work, big fucking surprise there.”

 

“You were gonna let me beat you?” Axl demanded baffled.

 

“Yes, weren’t you listening you dickhead?” Anders demanded and Axl had the sense to look ashamed. Anders was sharing things he normally would not, and it could not be easy for him.

 

“Sorry,” he mumbled again.

 

“Well, now I’m not only guilty of sleeping with your girlfriend, who is apparently completely innocent and was only used by Idunn, while I am fully responsible for it all by the way,” Anders stated bitterly. “But now I’m also responsible for your grades, not to mention your stunt on the roof, and thank you for that by the way.” He gritted his teeth, so hard Axl was almost worried. He’d never seen Anders like that before. So mad, so desperate.

 

“What?” he frowned confused. “What does that have to do with anything.”

 

“You said I was the reason you were up there,” Anders tells him, his voice void of all emotion. “And it appears that’s what everyone else figures, so I imagine it must be true. And apparently it’s down to me to fix it too, but the fuck if anyone will tell me how.”

 

“Oh,” Axl couldn’t think of anything to say. Anders stood there, looking as if he was barely holding it together, and they had met him with scorn, contempt and blame. No one had offered forgiveness or understanding.

 

Anders was struggling and barely holding it together, and if he broke it would be their fault.

 

Axl did the only thing he could do, wrapped his arms around him and squeezed as hard as he could, dropping his head awkwardly to the top of his head as he clung on for dear life.

 

Anders just stood there, not even hugging back. He just stood there while Axl held him and Axl wasn’t sure if he was hugging him for his sake or his own. Finally released him and still Anders just stood there.

 

“I’m sorry Anders,” Axl mumbled. “We’ve been treating you like shit and kept complaining about what a jerk you are, but we’ve been just as bad, and I don’t know if it counts for anything, but I’m sorry.”

 

“Can’t be more than sorry bro’,” Anders shrugs. “The question is if the person you wronged can forgive you. I’ve been jumping through all kinds of hoops trying to get just a single one of you to forgive me, and I’ve not had much luck with it.”

 

“No,” he admitted. “And, uh, you wanna teach me a lesson about that now, don’t you?”

 

“I think I should,” Anders nodded. “You’re forgiven.”

 

Axl blinked.

 

“Now, grab that shitty pie and lets take it to the others, and we’ll guilt those bastards into eating every last crumb of it, then we’re gonna get something edible for ourselves,” Anders nodded towards the pie and Axl picked it up, following.

 

Forgiven, could it really be that easy?

 

The End

  
Please Comment, the Cricket is hungry, and would once more like to urge everyone to read One Word at a Time by Aramirandme81


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